Talk:Story : Caractacus's fort
From "Toward the castle" <> I don't think anything is going to be done about this, but I've moved it here rather than simply delete it, just in case. --James 17:01, 10 July 2006 (UTC) Drawing the thread to a close I've described the castle that you were keen to visit. If you could quickly sketch out what you do there, and how you then proceed to the cottage, that would be very groovy. Please assume that you arrive at the cottage without incident, and rather than wait for others to post on this thread, kindly move along to the Cottage thread. I'm not sure where you intend to stay the night, but I'm sure a group of mages can find somewhere to sleep, eh? ;) --James 17:46, 19 June 2006 (UTC) How about these sponts for camping: ReAq 4 (TRiCi) base 1, make water that start faling outside or high-ish above the circle land outside the circle ReIg 10 (TRiCi) Base 3?, heat spreads only inside the circle unless it is warmer than room temperature. Phaedrus ought to be able to do the first one w.o. exertion by using gestures and cermony and the seccond one with exertion. --SamuelUser talk:Samuel 01:20, 20 June 2006 (UTC) Bedo can also add a few CrHe (dur Sun, cast just after sunset) too, to produce linen & rope to rig up a makeshift tent. Of course I don't have my books at work, so looking at the old Ars4 pdf, CrHe adds an extra magnitude to produce a plant product, so sponting the equivalent of Conjure the Sturdy Vine to produce vines instead of rope would be sensible. The shelter however had better be a piece of linen - anyone care to work out the numbers? --OldNick 10:46, 20 June 2006 (UTC) Samuel, what's the "TRiCi" stand for? I'm not familar with that one. --Tim 10:43, 20 June 2006 (UTC) : Range - Touch, duration - Ring, target - Circle. (looking at the choices availible I probably could have used only one letter for each, but I am not always sure of the order.) Basiclly Phaedrus will spont two very limited wards. --SamuelUser talk:Samuel 15:40, 20 June 2006 (UTC) Well, I threw some dice, and noone botched anything, and beyond that I'm not too worried, as this is just a bit of flavour. You are magi, afterall, and used to your creature comforts. :P --James 18:02, 20 June 2006 (UTC) Who lives in "Royal Castle of Stretton-en-le-Vale"? Is it the bailiff? --Tim 12:15, 24 May 2006 (UTC) :I've not really thought about it. It is covered by '''Ungarrisoned Castle (Minor Surroundings Boon)' on p27 of Covenants, and the constable mentioned in the book is the local lord of Stretton-en-le-Vale, who acts as castellan on behalf of the king, and no doubt prefers to spend most of his time in his rather nice manor house than in a drafty wood and stone castle. Presumably, he has a couple of his men in (semi-)residence.'' :: Have a look at Brockhurst_Castle for the historical details - looking at the map, it (or at last the trees around it) should be clearly visible from Caer Caradoc over Church Stretton. --OldNick 15:13, 24 May 2006 (UTC) Water Exam? Umm, Base 5 +1mag +1mag =Lvl 15??? Pr is this some property of 'Chaotic Magic' that I've missed? And why diameter? why not momentary at Lvl 10? The information either comes to you or it doesn't, not sure why you need 2 minutes to absorb it. Apologies if I'm way off the mark here... --Corbonjnl 03:33, 7 June 2006 (UTC) : That's not a property of Chaotic Magic, that's standard. As per "Changing Ranges, Durations, and Targets" on p. 114 of the core handbook: "For every step by which a category is raised, add one magnitude (five levels) to the level of the spell.... Below level 5, adding a magnitude only adds one level." So yeah, as far as spell levels go, 5+1+1 is 15, because it's five plus two magnitudes. --Jin-yi 08:23, 7 June 2006 (UTC) ::While James and Sally have the math is right for the magnitude, I agree with Corbon - the duration need only be momentary to glimmer the information off it.--Tim 10:49, 7 June 2006 (UTC) :::Umm currently Lvl 7 is being used, not Lvl 15. I still think it should be Level 15 (well, 10). I think you got my post backwards. I'm saying it is 15/10 - the ??? is because they appear to be using 7. The chaotic magic reference is because I was away from my books and couldn't remember what it did, but could see that the math appears to be non-standard. --Corbonjnl 23:20, 7 June 2006 (UTC) ::::No, it is level 15. According to the book, magnitudes increase at a rate of 1 from 1-5, then starting at the 5th magnitude, in increases in increments of five. So the progression of levels, when increasing by magnitudes is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc. :::That would be 'Yes, it is level 15.' The comments at the bottom of the page indicate level 7 was mistakenly targeted and fortuitously achieved exactly. The converted appear to be preaching to each other... ;-) --Corbonjnl 06:17, 8 June 2006 (UTC) ::::Heh. Sorry about that! As to preaching, "CAN I GET AN AMEN?! YES, BROTHERS AND SISTERS!" --Tim 11:45, 8 June 2006 (UTC) ::::As to CHAOTIC MAGIC (Major, Hermetic) Your magic is very wild. When you cast a spontaneous spell, you must specify a desired level of effect. If you fall short of or exceed that target by more than one level, the spell still works, but its effects are beyond your control—the storyguide decides the results. The level of effect includes any levels you assign to Penetration. ::::--Tim 01:21, 8 June 2006 (UTC) Dear me, did I total that spell up as level 7? I guess I did. Yes, it is clearly a level 15 spell with a two minute duration, and I am happy for it to be reduced to a level 10 spell given the nature of the information I sent Corbon in an email. Apologies, I wasn't really awake when I wrote that... The only problem with raising the level from 7 to 10, is that Corbon's attempt at casting it now fails unless he spends a confidence point. Alternatively, he could take a short rest and cast again (in which case he succeeds with an 8). :Phaedrus was looking for as much information as he could get with that spont (not mentioning the target baseline was intentional), he expected to get a lvl5 spel, roling 11+ for lvl10 seemed unlikely. That lvl5 spell ought to give "mundane properties" at touch range. --SamuelUser talk:Samuel 20:40, 9 June 2006 (UTC) I did not intend for Phaedrus to retroactively change his actions! Especially not to something possibly risky. Phaedrus was meant to use the results of the first (touch range) spell as an indication that a seccond spell might be useful and not too dangerous. and then spend some minutes resting (while estimating the waterflow). Touching and especially tasting things he is experimenting with is not something Phaedrus does without some reasonably preliminaries indicating it is "safe". Taste by the way != drink. --SamuelUser talk:Samuel 10:41, 11 June 2006 (UTC) Conducive to building? He was no expert on such matters, but it did appear that the terrain was conducive to the construction of such large stone buildings as might take their fancy, let alone lesser ones of wood. It did appear conducive or it didn't? It's a pretty bare hilltop, with no wagon route to the top, where most of the construction visible was the remains of ditches & ridges. It doesn't seem very conducive to me, as a layman. : That may be so, but to a MAGE, the limitations that face a mundane layman are no limitation to him. --Tim 15:37, 24 May 2006 (UTC) Basically, there is a good, solid rock foundation to build on, and big rocky outcroppings standing proud of the grass just begging for a bit of Rego magic. You won't lack for stone in a place like this, though wood will need to be brought up from lower down the slopes, and water is available from the pond. That's if you don't just magic enormous towers into existence, which I expect you probably would. --James 07:56, 25 May 2006 (UTC) Interesting features? The current description gives me the impression that the only thing on the hiltop that singles itself out for closer investigation is the pool. Is that right? --SamuelUser talk:Samuel 08:37, 25 May 2006 (UTC) The pond is spring fed, and the water is thus eminently potable. No doubt the magi could readily construct some form of well or fountain there to benefit fully from the water. Being able to drink fresh water, rather than weak ale, would definitely be beneficial for the health of the covenant's inhabitants. You may be wondering why this location seems a little plain. The location itself has some hooks associated with it, but it is a fairly simple set up. If you choose this site, the stories will focus more on covenant/political matters rather than location related ones, which naturally won't become apparent til you build a covenant. Hellish walk and beast? "A hellish walk every time we want to leave the hill, and worse, no wagon track up here, nor any obvious route to build one." The initial climb while in the woods is a bit on the steep side, but thereafter, the going is reportedly fairly easy. A path to the summit would be best placed along the spine of the ridge. The beast is apparently aquatic, and you know where it lairs, so I can't see there being any problem with devising a method for disposing of the beast, and I am somewhat surprised that you have not already attempted to do so, though the summit did beckon. I suppose it's a bit inevitable - but I've actually walked to the top of Caer Caradoc in real life (luckily, you'll not find I've climbed many more of the hills around here). It is a steep walk - certainly not one you'd want to do with any more than a backpack - but not bad enough that you need to use your hands except when crossing some parts of the wall of the old fort. I do suspect that a cart track would have to switchback to make it to the top, rather than try to follow the ridge - so it's by no means impossible. --OldNick 13:03, 30 May 2006 (UTC) That sounds like a marvellous way to keep those people you pay to go outside and run errends in good physical shape. Naturally, if you ever decide to leave the covenant, it might inconvenience you for part of the day, but that won't be very often, now, will it? :D --James 15:46, 31 May 2006 (UTC) Hiding the covenant The only real ways to hide the covenant are to disguise it as another type of settlement (such as a nunnery), build it underground (with lots of sky-lights or arcane illumination), or place an illusion over it. There is nowhere you can put a settlement where it won't be discovered by the local populace, and its existence reported to the nobility, barring a regio. That said, it is possible to bargain, coerce, and blackmail the nobility into giving you what you want. --James 11:22, 25 May 2006 (UTC) : As a player, I would encourage that we seriously consider not trying to hide the covenant. At worst, the locals that believe naught in magic think of us as eccentric scholars, at best, they revere us and seek our assistance when their need arises. Additionally, if we do not try to hide and let the church know of our actions (perhaps calling upon other contacts in the church?) then maybe we can (at least) set up an uneasy truce. --Tim 13:27, 25 May 2006 (UTC) ::I think there is a difference between "not hiding" and raising impressive buildings for the whole countryside to look at and covet. Especially if we raise them quickly... (The castle hook comes to mind.) --SamuelUser talk:Samuel 14:45, 25 May 2006 (UTC) :::Absolutely - magically quickly built buildings appearing on the skyline might be a bit difficult to explain. Wherever we build people will get to know about it - but there's a difference between that, and advertising our presence and nature quite so blatantly. --OldNick 13:06, 30 May 2006 (UTC) Searching for Auras I don't have my books with me, so have approximated a description for 'sponting' a spell for Bedo trying to detect auras within sight of the top of Caer Caradoc. I can't remember whether they can actually be detected in this way - feel free to modify as appropriate. If they can, he'll try for one Int-Vim, range vision, duration concentration, trying to do it in one long spell, as he turns around, and quite willing to exhaust himself in the process. --OldNick 14:31, 5 June 2006 (UTC) That's fine. Determining the presence of an aura is a base 1 spell, and determining the strength of an aura is a base 2 spell (both InVi). You can probably pull of a 24 hour duration spont. --James 13:23, 6 June 2006 (UTC) Piercing the Magical Veil is used to reveal the presence of Regios and means of entry. It won't tell you about the aura or it's strength, but you should be able to spont. that readily enough. He is able to determine that Caer Caradoc itself lies not in a magical regio. The only other signs of a magical regio that he can make out (if the spell permits such) are strange glimmerings from the Long Mynd, which indicate the presence of a rather substantial regio. --James 13:44, 6 June 2006 (UTC) ...and what does he find in the way of auras? Feel free to email if complicated. --OldNick 14:48, 6 June 2006 (UTC) Caer Caradoc is contained within a level 4 aura, that doesn't seem to have any real gradiation to it, but does seem to contain the entire fort. Looking into the vale, there is a large dominion aura, which sweeps down along road and vale toward Church Stretton, where it grows bright before diminshing as it sweeps onward. The aura, which extends out as far as the bell's toll can be heard, reaches high up into the sky, and obstructs the view of more delicate and distant auras lying beyond. In fact, for the most part, these hills seem like islands in a golden sea, for what it is worth, with settlement beyond the Caer causing similar problems on the hill's eastern flank as well. The aura seems to extend to the earthworks, and stops not far below them. Looking down the southern side of the hill, where a cart track might zigzag up through the wood from the bridge, there appears to be a faint faerie aura about the trees. No doubt you'll have questions about this, too. :D --James 15:41, 6 June 2006 (UTC) I thought the Intelego Vim guidelines would only detect effects of a particular type (Magic, Faerie, Divine or Infernal)? --SamuelUser talk:Samuel 23:10, 8 June 2006 (UTC) Yes, I've dealt with that by having Bedo cast his spell twice more for each direction, with the target realm changed. :D A bit cheeky, but I doubt Nick will mind. It would only take a couple of minutes longer. --James 04:09, 11 June 2006 (UTC)